Most agree that staging a 2020 MLB campaign is a worthwhile goal, so long as it can truly be done safely and responsibly. Dividing the spoils of a baseball season? That isn’t a reasonable priority given the present state of the world. But it does need to be done. No matter one’s view on the right approach to a tough issue, it’s tough to understand the reflexive vitriol launched at the players, many of whom don’t even earn monumental sums. Just like the owners, they’re merely engaged in a necessary economic negotiation — the latest round of which was spurred by the league’s decision to propose a further salary reduction and introduce it through the media.
- Rays lefty Blake Snell sparked the latest round of controversy in the MLB-MLBPA salary battle when he offered some pointed comments during a Twitch stream. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times covered the story. Snell directly connected the matter of health to that of pay, saying he’s not willing to accept a further reduction of salary given that “the risk is through the roof.” Snell, who cited the possible long-term risks from the disease and worries about spreading it to family members, tells Topkin that he’s genuinely unsure whether to play even if the economics are sorted to his liking. While it wasn’t the smoothest delivery of his message, Snell seems genuinely conflicted and concerned with matters of real importance. The star lefty says he is still preparing for the 2020 campaign, but indicated he has begun to shift mentally to a 2021 return.
- Snell found some support from one of the game’s biggest stars, Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper. As Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports, Harper said in his own Twitch session that the hurler is “speaking the truth.” Now, that’s something far shy even of Snell’s warnings that he may or may not play. There’s no indication at the moment that Harper is considering a similar course. But it is a notable bit of star player unity on the matter of compensation.
- Rockies star Nolan Arenado also saw merit in Snell’s comments. He tells Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) that Snell was “just being real” but also expressed understanding that it rubbed some the wrong way. Arenado says the players “understand we’re not going to get paid everything we thought we were getting this year” and are okay with that. He also took a more measured view of the health situation, while noting it is a legitimate concern. Ultimately, Arenado believes the sides had a deal and should honor it and move forward: “It is a risk. We did negotiate a deal. I think that’s the thing: We negotiated a deal. Now let’s go play. Let’s get to work. That’s where we as players are coming from.”
- Cubs owner Tom Ricketts claimed yesterday that fully 70 percent of his team’s revenue comes from gameday operations. As Rob Arthur notes on Twitter, that sounds like a figure that may reflect a selective snippet of the real balance sheet of the multi-faceted Cubs-related empire. This goes to the main problem behind the league’s reported 50/50 revenue-sharing plan: it’s impossible even to assess unless the full picture is available. While teams may not believe players are entitled to a share of regional sports network revenue, surrounding real estate, and other such broader initiatives, the organizations do stand to profit from those adjacent activities. And given the league’s claim of potential losses in a spectator-free season — which is a relevant aspect of the recent contract agreed upon between the sides — it seems only fair to consider the full picture.
- If you thought Snell’s comments sparked a firestorm, let’s see how this plays out … Alex Rodriguez, who earned more money playing baseball than anyone, just released an odd video calling upon players and owners to work out a 50/50 split. It’s mostly a bland call to work together, but A-Rod’s controversial background (not to mention his recent dalliance with purchasing the Mets) puts a different spin on the generally mundane words. Thing is, the owners know that going halfsies sounds fair. But the real question isn’t the relative split, it’s the absolute size of the pie the owners are offering to carve up — and how close it comes to the pro rata pay (approximately half pay for a half season) the players believe to be appropriate.
- Even if (likely when) the matter of salary is resolved, it’s clear there are quite a few complicated questions, as Jayson Stark of The Athletic (subscription link) nicely breaks down. The one that stands out: commissioner Rob Manfred says that individual players won’t be forced to play once the finances are sorted out. But what does that mean in terms of salary, service time, and the like? There’s quite a lot still for the sides to work through.
Aroid should just keep his mouth shut since we know he cheated multiple times & fondly refer to him as the Queen of P E D & refer to Bonds as the King of P E D, Braun as the princess of P E D & Clemens as the Prince of P E D
Not an A-Rod fan. But I also have no idea what this comment has to do with anything.
Agree I don’t like arod, but that looks like the ramblings of an old man on his desktop
He really thought he left the comment of the century.
George, go grab your mail, don’t want you to miss your AARP discount coupons.
Ruth-You don’t speak for the rest of us. You sound like a bitter old Mets fan
Wait, I thought most of us did want Arod to keep his mouth shut?
I have never been & I never will be a Mets fan just like I will never be a Yankees, Giants, Braves, Reds or Astros fan
that AARP comment is looking better by the second, George
lol George Ruth
Yet you choose, arguably, the most iconic Yankee as your screen name?
I agree with what Arenado said.
Its 94 all over again. Baseball has a chance to come back strong. Shorter more exciting season with much less travel for teams, universal DH, no fans in the regular season to offend any of the soft players, a pay check which most of America isn’t getting, and proposed new divisions, and daily testing which us common tax paying struggling families dont have. Maybe they are worried about what the test will really reveal. If they think sitting out will accomplish anything, guess again. Roids won’t pull them out of this like they did before. A bunch of greedy spoiled bastards who will rely on lawyers. Sounds like the Democrats.If you’d ask the minor leaguers if they would play for the league minimum they’d do it.
Some of you goobs find a way to tie politics into everything.
the only “Matter of real importance” Snell is concerned with is his bank account
Snell was so poor in the choice of his woods and actions—- @ the 1:58 mark on twitch in which he explains like he in slim shady, that he’s doesn’t want to play this summer because he’s tired of baseball and only does it for his grandparents. At @ 2:51 I think is when he goes off rambling between buy my “merch” and how he’s sacred to play… unless he gets paid— horrible.
Harper also did not know what Snell said it was poorly dictated by Bryson Stott who he was playing Fortnite with. Harper said— he likes Snell he’s a good guy and agrees someone had to say it. If Harper would have heard the whole thing I doubt he would have been so candid. If so he looks bad too.
The players are partially right, Arenado hits the nail on the head.
sorry bout the spelling errors —- Siri is not kind
The surrounding real estate is the new play for the owners and any ballpark built new today better have some land around it up for sale as well-
Rickettes 70% is a complete farce, it takes a real confident crook to put that number(%) out in public
Most owners loosely try and claim half (50%); although many speculated that number was too high as well
If the season is cancelled because of greed, whether of the players, the owners or both; Baseball dies in America.
If they don’t get this settled, it will be worse than 1994 for the game. This needs to be settled quickly and not in the media.
Players like Snell need to leave the PR to the adults, he sounded like a dumb jock.
Yep. This is make or break for baseball. Do what’s right and give the country a pass time sorely needed, or let greed prevail and its strike 3. Sit down you’re out baseball. MLS will be the new American pastime.
they have already settled this. owners are trying to take bigger slice of a pie than they agreed upon.
As much as I know everyone loves him on here, I think that Boras hit the nail on the head when he said that “You don’t privatize the gains and socialize the losses.” When things are great and owners are breaking the bank they don’t tell the players, “Hey, I made so much money this year I am going to pay you guys an extra mil or two each.” Yet, when profits might be down and they might not make much because of a crisis they think it is justifiable to ask players to sacrifice more of their pay than they already had agreed to sacrifice. People forget that the players already compromised when they agreed to take a prorated salary; obviously this was the right move to make, but it is one that they could have rejected.
Taking a pro-rated salary isn’t some sort of great sacrifice, it’s just not being paid for things you didn’t do. I don’t understand why the alternative was even on the table. And the players did well out of that deal, they are still getting service time (though I suppose marginal players on long term deals they don’t deserve get screwed a bit because they lose a year of windfall. Pour one out for Chris Davis)
Personally I think that the owners’ stance that the economics of the game have to make sense isn’t disingenuous, so long as they are willing to open their books and provide guarantees on how profits will be calculated. Heck, put a floor on it that’s not a % to provide some surety.
I think the fact that the owners are blatantly using the media to further their cause and pressure the players to further sacrifice their contractually obligated pay is not only disingenuous but the epitome of greed.
To your other point, there is no way the owners will completely open up their books. There is so much that could be tied up into team revenue that it would be incredibly complicated and controversial as to what is and what is not part of team revenue. Hopefully, the union can take advantage of this fact to show the regular fan that the owners are the ones trying to capitalize on the players and fans; not the other way around.
Further, if they are willing to open up their books this year to show how much money they will lose if players do not sacrifice some of their pay, then they should be obliged to keep their books open so that players and fans can see how much they are pocketing when the going is good. If the players do accept a 50/50 split they should demand future transparency, and that will never happen.
Why is this so hard. If the athletes play half a season, they get paid half a season. If the owners cry poverty because of lost ticket sales, etc., cancel the season this year and prepare for next year.
Finally, someone who gets it. The owners are crying poor and it’s all lies. 70 % my arse.
Here’s a little fun with numbers…
The Cubs are claiming that 70% of their revenue comes from gameday operations. I googled “what does the average person spend to attend a game at Wrigley Field?” A lot of answers come up, of course, and I didn’t research where everybody got their numbers, but there was a somewhat consistent average of $135 per fan per game. IF (and it’s a big if; like I said, this is just fun with numbers) that is correct, judging from 2019 attendance at Wrigley, gameday operations raised $417, 806,775. That figure represents 70% of $596, 866,821. If they do indeed lose all gameday revenue (in 2019 numbers), it would leave them $179,060,046 to operate with. A 50/50 split would net either side $89,530,023.
I’m reasonably confident the Cubs are fudging percentages and all… and even at that, either side stands to make a fair chunk of change without fans in attendance. It also means if any of this guestimating is remotely accurate that the Cubs have some $600MM per year to work with.
Good gawd, I need to get out on Friday nights again, and soon!!!
Cubs fan here. There is certainly some over exaggeration in that 70% figure but for your numbers exercise, sources not included are the business owned by the Cubs around the ballpark nowadays as well as the revenue sharing agreement they have in place with the rooftop owners. That would surely add to your totals.
Snell is a clown.
twitter.com/TBTimes_Rays/status/123780843199995904…
there is nothing there. any father would think and worry about his family. maybe deadbeats aren’t really fathers!
LOL
I thought I recognized that “If I get corona I get corona” kid in that video! Blake, you need to learn to hold your alcohol.
I don’t wanna hear about how that pos is putting his life on the line playing a game while making millions and complaining about not getting paid full his full salary while only playing half the games. He goes from saying COVID is being overhyped and he doesn’t care if he gets it to saying he’s putting his life on the line to play a game. You wanna know who is risking their lives? All the people in the medical field who are on the front lines every single day, making a fraction of what he’s making to play a game.
Agreed. Just remember, Snell is just a kid. Cut him some slack. Seems like a decent guy.
Nice pull Setzer
Why is this the first time I have seen this?
Boy he sure looks dumb as hell right now
Millionaire Ballplayers complaining they’re at risk while getting paid half their salary. I’m sure HOF greats like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax would love to make 20% of your salary to play the game. And they were 1000 x ‘s better at doing it. And I would rather see them play..I’m sure Snell has no problem going to the supermarket that’s not a sterile as the conditions he will endure at the ballpark. Then again he’s not getting paid to go shopping.
As much as I wanna see baseball this season, the situation is so complicated and potentially dangerous, I go with the “bag the season and make sure NEXT season starts on time” camp.
Take a players salary divide by 162.
Every game they play in they get that amount.
If they sit out they get 0 pay, except signing bonus also proportional to games played.
If they sit out they either get a salary proportional to games this year or service time equal to their 2019 total.
I agree almost fully.
I would say if a player opts out they should get no pay or service time other than their signing bonus for the year.
So long as a relatively safe environment is created of course.
Pro rated salary is fair, though the players have every right to ask for their entire contracts paid – a contract is a contract. However, pro rated was what was agreed and now the billionaire owners are just trying to grab more than is their fair share, and idiots on here are lapping up their propaganda and making out like its he players who are greedy. Unbelievable!
“A Legend In His Own Mind.” ( Clint Eastwood). Describes people like Snell and Harper perfectly. Especially look at Harper: The Nationals “Lose” him to the Phillies and win the World Series.
Question- will the minor leagues have games with empty stadiums to develop players and if so will the MLB players help subsidize 50% of the cost along with the MLB owners? Or will the owners have sole responsibility.
Both sides are greedy. Reminds me of the Republicans and Democrats, no one is concern about the general public.
Keep your agendas and cancel the season, don’t pay the players any more than the earlier agreed pot and let them collect unemployment until next spring.
Temporary lay off similar to a large part of our society.
I’m tired of waiting and watching these spoiled children .
minor leagues are all closed for this year because mlb or owners hardly make anything from them.
Yes I know.
Point is these two groups should look out for the health of the game and support the big picture , the whole game. Sad that they both are driven by greed.
Or at least the owners pay and whatever the cost deduct from what ever pot they will split.
A couple issues with Snell’s comments (assuming I am remembering the story correctly). First, he complained his $7m salary could get cut to just under $2m (“and that’s before taxes, so think about that.”). For a well-paid professional, that amount would be 20+ years of work, so think about that Snell.
Second, he said risking his life everyday is not worth making so little. If he truly believes that, then he should agree that baseball players should make less than police officers and fire fighters.
I don’t know if Snell mentioned this, but the high salaries in baseball/sports are often explained by professional athletes having a shorter life span in their profession. For every million a pro athlete makes, it is the same as a well-paid ($100,000/year) professional working 10 years. Baseball players who are not even considered to be that good can often fetch a $5m/year contract, which equates to 50 years worth of work by a well-paid professional, so, to me, that argument does not hold up either. They don’t even have to be that good to make the same or more in one year than what a “normal” person makes in their lifetime.
according to your logic mlb should hire average and underage boys to play and pay them below minimum wages. mlb players have special talent and training to provide services required for professional baseball. and they are producing billions of dollars for the teams and, in turn, getting paid nicely after spending years honing their skills for peanuts. if owners can make the kind of money hiring people like you or me they would. but they won’t. so you make pittance and baseball players make many times over
I understand why they get paid the money they do (like actors being paid for the money they make the studio). If they simply say the owners make a ton of money cuz of my play, so I want my fair share, then fine.
He complained he’d make only half his salary for playing half the games. That would be like me complaining they are cutting my salary to go part-time. Of course you’ll get paid less.
Your point they should get paid cuz of all the money they make the owners. Does that mean they shouldn’t get paid in a year when the owners may not make much?
My logic does not say owners should hire average people. I don’t complain about salaries during a normal year. If the money will not be there this year, my point is that he is complaining about a salary that is more than enough to live on (unless he is terrible with his money).
I started my job 19 years ago making $11/hr. Pro athletes aren’t the only ones getting started in their jobs for peanuts. If they are good enough to make the majors, they get to their payday much quicker than the average worker.
If he is concerned about his family’s health, I get that. I live with 2 at-risk individuals (my mother-in-law and son). From what I read, it sounded like he was looking for sympathy because he may only be bringing in $1.5m this year (before taxes). I can’t feel sorry for him.
Reading isn’t Vizionaire’s strength.
That is not at all what he said Vizionaire. According to “your logic”, you are still an idiot.
Maybe he really is worried about his family. I mean judging by his comments, his wife obviously didn’t marry him for his brains or personality. Definitely not his looks either. He seems to have nothing to offer other than money. Without that he is worthless.
are you his wife?
They really should be open to letting guys sit it out, that’s a decision people have to make for themselves, not the players union. But if they do sit out they shouldn’t accrue service time, shouldn’t be guaranteed a spot on the 40 man when they come back, and certainly shouldn’t get paid. Can’t have it both ways.
We’re gonna be at 100,000 deaths soon. Blake Snell can shut the hell up.
LMAO. Turn off the news, you’re being indoctrinated. If you truly believe we’re at 100K deaths in the USA due to COVID, you’re simply cherrypicking whistleblowers, as hundreds of doctors throughout the country have all come out advising they’re PAID MORE to add COVID-19 as a cause of death, even if they never tested positive.
Facts > Feelings
Folks under 75 have a 0.1% death rate. There’s more risk involved walking to your mailbox than via COVID-19.
You’ve bought into the hysteria and hyperbole, hook, lie and it’s a stinker.
The serious analyses of deaths look at how many people normally die and how many died this year. Any such real analysis demonstrates that deaths are dramatically undercounted.
shove your Qanon and OANN conspiracy theories where the sun don’t shine. Go back to Russia troll!
I don’t think it’s tough at all to understand. Maybe you don’t agree with it, but John Q. Public is of the opinion that ballplayers are grossly overpaid as it is. Seeing Snell say this kind of stuff is enough to drive some people into into a frenzy. Consider the risks expected of the people who work in grocery stores, package handling, delivery, etc. All of those people are expected to keep doing their jobs and ACTUALLY risking their lives for insultingly low pay because they have no choice but to do so. Then this guy says he chooses not to play half a season in an empty stadium because it’s too dangerous and $2 million is not enough millions. If you can’t honestly understand the outrage, then you have become too out-of-touch.
To be clear, there are no good guys here. I am not saying Snell should just shut up and accept whatever the owners are trying to push on the players right now, but this plays so, so bad in the media. As a baseball fan I feel like I’m bracing for a car crash right now. Like others have said, this could be worse than 1994. Yikes, boys.
If players are overpaid for having the unique skills, then what the heck are the owners?! Surely they’re even more overpaid for doing nothing but hiring skilled people to make money for them? How people can side with the owners is astounding.
So Snell doesn’t think it is fair for him to take less money in salary due to risk to his health. If what he deserves to earn is directly tied to his health shouldn’t he have paid back about half his salary last year while he was healing up and not contributing? I understand the argument…I just feel like someone who didn’t miss half the previous season would have better standing in bringing it up.
Great point-
Heres another along the same lines-
Unlike NFL all his money is fully guaranteed !!!
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE for MLB to get into NFL status ( for a couple trial yrs) and start pink slipping some of these bums after the year who weren’t performing up to par – They might come out the end with a little different perspective
They really have No clue how good they have it, its sick, before even considering every NFL player is just one chop block away from never recieving any guaranteed money the next year or any there after
Thats a MAJOR concession that the owners gave- Next CBA fine players you’ll get more of the pie….guaranteeed contracts though….NOPE!!!! Lets see what happens then?
“Thing is” is not proper English.
lol
Telling a lawyer how to talk …like he doesn’t know what is, or isn’t, proper English.
I’d have thought halfsies would have tipped you to his intent?
More and more, I think nationalizing America’s pastime and operating it as a public good wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Greed is ruining the game.
I know, “but socialism”, but imagine baseball with no tanking, no small market teams that only build a contender every 20-30 years, no big market teams that buy up the top free agents every winter and are in the playoffs every single year, no corporate names on stadiums, no jacked-up ticket and concession prices, no billionaire owners pinching pennies, no quarter-billion-dollar contracts.
Instead we have a miserly cabal slashing the draft, strangling the minor leagues, and trying to strong-arm players. And we have well-paid whiners like Blake Snell and Bryce Harper (he who was “insulted” to be offered a $30M/year contract extension) moaning about being undervalued.
Nobody looks good right now in this mess. Maybe guys like Sean Doolittle who are focused on figuring out how to manage the health side of this and not belly-aching about how many millions of dollars they get to play half a season’s worth of baseball games. But even that conversation keeps tipping over into tone-deaf comparisons between baseball players and frontline hospital workers or underpaid wage workers, and that’s a bad look, too.
Thank you, Che Guevara!
Im cuing some Lennon now !
Maybe in the Field of Dreams after we die….
In all seriousness ,everything you said was brilliant
Pay them what the play this year and then it falls on next years free agents and the years to come to make less. That’s all. The gov will bail them out if need be with losses this year anyway I’m sure. As for service time and pay for players who don’t want to play…don’t play, u forfeit this years pay. U get docked service time. Even balance of numbers there, as u shouldn’t get paid if you do t work obviously, but the service time works in a couple ways, one, older players lose a year on their body and timing and eyes, they don’t gain anything by losing a year even if they approach free agency or a better contract on the horizon. If they play and showcase they can earn more. If they don’t play then they face risks on that. Plus again the lesser pay of future free agency. Younger players service time is more of an issue but again, free agency will pay less and they have one less year to show that they deserve big contracts. And, while not playing is a personal standpoint which I won’t get into, some teams, players, gms, agents, etc might feel less of that player for not playing when all others are and putting themselves at risk or being away from families.
Just my thoughts that don’t matter to anyone lol
All this negativity about Snell has me wondering if we’re still going to boo the Astros if the season starts in July?
Snell is public enemy number one. Astros are old news now, they at least WANTED to win. Snell wants to whine. Winners > Whiners
go back to Russia! troll.
Oh yeah!
Oh yeah, Astros will be booed, whenever fans are in the park.
I suppose no one ever accused Snell of being intelligent. He should change the channel, propaganda isn’t a good look on him.
Wanna talk about risk? There’s more risk involved when minor league players are traveling via bus all over the country.
Fun Fact: You’re still 10x more likely to perish in a car accident than via COVID-19.
PLAY BALL!
Exactly.
Everyone knows we have more than 800,000 car accident deaths every two months.
Why can’t people just face these facts?
Yes, and that’s why we don’t have safety measures in place in cars like we do with COVID, such as seatbelts, crumple zones, airbags, driving lessons/courses, road rules… SMH
70%? How much do they charge for beer at Wrigley?
The number is closer to 7% than 70%.
Confident crook indeed
Aren’t there less than 40,000 motor vehicle deaths in the US annually? Isn’t the US death toll at 88,000 because of the Coronavirus pandemic? Isn’t it only May?
Stop apologizing for Snell.
What is interesting is that Passan pointed out that there is a slight possibility that the players could wind up making more money accepting a 50/50 revenue split than they would getting just 1/2 season salary. Maybe that is not likely, but it’s not like the numbers are astronomically different. The assumption of the owners offer being a SIGNIFICANT paycut is not necessarily valid… I think players need to take a look at the actual numbers closely before assuming they are getting screwed. They might wind up turning down an offer that would actually benefit them or at the very least be close to what they would expect to get paid anyway, without realizing it. It stands to reason that the reverse is true, if the owners agreed to pay 1/2 season prorated salary, it might not be all that different than a revenue split anyway.
Hopefully if the two sides look at the actual numbers and realize they are not as far apart as they might appear, it might lead to some level of compromise. Perhaps as simple as 1/4 prorated salary plus a 50/50 revenue split on 1/2 the total revenue. That’s a right down the middle compromise that might not make a whole lot of difference either way anyway but make both sides feel better.
Can Manfred just cancel everyone’s contract via force ma·jeure? Or just the contracts of players that do not want to play? Dunno if this force ma·jeure will effect to a permanent cancellation of all contracts – ala everyone becomes a free agent until another team signs them. If its year to year [cancel contracts] then it would seem easypeasy to justify for this year and next.
What do you mean “cancel contracts”? You mean start playing games, without a prior agreement, and refuse to pay the players that are under contract the amount the contract says they’re due?
No, of course not. Do you think you could justify telling your cleanup crew “Hey, listen, you’re gonna be making half your usual hourly rate this year, because coronavirus”? You couldn’t. And, for the same exact reason, you couldn’t justify telling the players that. The law is objective, it doesn’t care about income levels.
P.S. They could try cancelling the whole season….but I doubt it would go over well in Court. There’s no justification for it. The players would still get some of their money, only difference is that the owners would get nothing. If they start the season, and make a player friendly deal, they at least get something.
The players are not making half their hourly rate. They are working half the hours they normally do. If the cleanup crew works half the hours they normally do, my guess is their paycheck would also be half of what it normally is.
MLB should resume June 1st with no fans in the stands until we figure things out. Players should be tested for Corona bedore they start and every week lets say. Teams should play June 1st as the original 2020 schedule says for June 1st. The 2020 schedule for April and May should be transferred to October and November. There ahould be a shortened playoffs and have a Christmas World Series in a possible warm destination or dome if too cold.
@Stan –
< They could try cancelling the whole season….but I doubt it would go over well in Court. There’s no justification for it.
Huh??? Read the contract:
“11. This contract is subject to federal or state legislation, regulations, executive or other official orders or other governmental action, now or hereafter in effect respecting military, naval, air or other governmental service, which may directly or indirectly affect the Player, Club or League and subject also to the right of the Commissioner to suspend the operation of this contract during any national emergency during which Major League Baseball is not played.” (emphasis added)
Thus, when President Trump declared a state of emergency on March 13, 2020 in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, Commissioner Manfred effectively had the right to suspend immediately all player contracts, including any payment obligations of the clubs thereunder, indefinitely for the period of time during which the state of emergency was in effect and games were not being played.
From "www.foley.com/en/insights/publications/2020/05/collective-bargaining-sports-covid19-mlb-salaries"